Habib Beye praises Marseille players for showing ‘fight’ amid fan protests

Knocked out of the UEFA Champions League and the Coupe de France since the turn of the year, Olympique de Marseille’s fans made their displeasure known when AJ Auxerre came to town on Friday night. 

It isn’t a first. Marseille’s players have been regularly booed by their own fans in recent weeks when at home, whilst the away end was silent last week when they made the visit to face Toulouse FC. “You’re all sh*ts”, read a banner that remained at the foot of the away end throughout. 

Speaking in a post-match press conference attended by Get French Football News, Habib Beye says that the “context”, aka the fan protests and the 45 minutes of silence from the ultras, had an effect on OM’s performance. “Our first half was lifeless. It was also linked to the context, which wasn’t easy to comprehend, even if we knew [it was going to happen],” said Beye.

After a goalless first half against Auxerre, OM came out 1-0 winners thanks to a late goal from Amine Gouiri. Beye praised his players’ mindset: “Yes, our first-half performance wasn’t at the level of the second, but I want to really pay tribute to my players who fought and stayed focused in what was a difficult context.”